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(USA, 1962)

The first of a series of Supreme Court decisions which undermined the custom of manipulating legislative apportionments at state and federal levels for political or racial purposes. Electoral boundaries had been drawn up to discriminate against Americans of Color. This decision ruled that population was the only acceptable basis for representation in the United States. Crucially, the Court ruled that the apportionment of seats was not simply a political question, but that it did fall within the purview of the judiciary.